


Nightmares of an Immortal Winter Spirit

by TStarOPines



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-17
Updated: 2013-06-21
Packaged: 2017-12-15 07:01:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/846680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TStarOPines/pseuds/TStarOPines
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After meeting the Big Four formally, Jack Frost comes face to face with the Nightmare King himself. The introduction could've gone better, and Jack begins to have dreams and nightmares about his long forgotten past, his fears, and his responsibilities as the spirit of mischief and chaos, or so he thinks. Unsure who to trust and unsure what do do, what will happen as he refuses to take a side during the battle of Easter?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Nightmare King's Offer

_“What makes you think I wanna be a Guardian?”_

The winter spirit sighed as he walked along the dimly lit sidewalk, thinking about what had happened earlier in the day. For the first time, the Guardians had welcomed him to the North Pole- well, rather kidnapped him and then welcomed him. Needless to say, the whole situation was new and strange to him, and he was conflicted on how to react to it. 

_Am I happy the Guardians were finally acknowledging his existence? Definitely, overjoyed actually. But the thing that keeps nagging at me, is why now? Why now, out of the blue, when I have been around for three hundred years?_

After the confrontation with the Guardians, Jack flew out of the North Pole as soon as possible; he needed time to think. He flew to his favorite town to visit, Burgess. Why was it his favorite, he wasn’t sure, but he felt most at home here. The children were actively paying in the snow during winter, and so he made sure the town got plenty of snow days much to the adults displeasure. 

Now however, it was lightly snowing, Jack Frost being deep in thought. 

Maybe they all had to agree on it. I’m sure Bunnymund would’ve taken some great convincing, though he still didn’t seem too happy with the idea, Jack rolls his eyes and laughs, The Easter kangaroo still has that grudge against me for the blizzard back in ’68. Not that I blame him, I was pretty wound up that day and the blizzard wasn’t kind. But you think he’d overlook it by now. I wonder if he’ll ever-

The young immortal was brought out of his thoughts when he noticed the dark shadows beginning following him. He stopped, adjusting his staff in his hands. The shadows seemed to crackle and laugh. 

Jack looked around cautiously, tightening his grip on his staff. “Who’s there?” 

“I see the Guardians didn’t tell you everything when they dragged you up to the Pole, hmm?” 

Jack jumped around and came face to face with a tall dark shadow, leaning over him with a mischievous smile that revealed his small, curved, pointed teeth. The boy looked on in almost disbelief.

“You’re- You’re Pitch Black. The Nightmare King.” 

Pitch smiled again, and leaned back, chuckling. “Ah, so you have heard me. Not that I doubted you did.” He disappeared into shadows, and reappeared behind Jack again. “So, the Guardians have finally met up with you? How was it?”

Jack tensed up. He turned around to face Pitch again. “What does it matter to you?”

Pitch closed his eyes and shrugged. “Oh,” He said chuckling, “Nothing really. I simply like to keep tabs on potential enemies,” His eyes opened, and he put an arm around Jack’s shoulder, and smiled. “Or potential allies.” 

Jack quickly brushed Pitch’s arm off him and stepped back. “Whoa, no thanks.” 

Pitch’s expression phased a bit, but he quickly recovered. He laughed softly. “So you have joined the Guardians then?” 

“Well, no…” Jack looked away from the dark spirit. “I mean, I am considering it-”

Pitch appeared next to him again, startling Jack. “Why? Don’t you find it odd that they only want you to join now?” 

The boy turned away again. “Sort of.” 

Pitch smirked. “I mean, they have known about you for, what, is it three hundred years now? How many times have you tried to get them to acknowledge you?” 

Jack looked at Pitch, wondering at what the shadow man was trying to do. He sighed. “A lot. But they always would ignore me,” Jack walked away from Pitch again, leaning on his staff. “In fact, a few times North’s yetis actually threw me out of the Pole.” He added under his breath. 

“What about the Tooth Fairy? Or Sandman? Or Bunnymund?” Pitch slithered up to the boy again, his fearlings hidden in the shadows around them.

“They all ignored me,” Jack sighed, but then a small smile crept on to his face. “Although, I did manage to catch Bunnymund’s attention for a while back in ’68.” 

Pitch chuckled. “I believe I heard about that incident. How did the rabbit take it?”

Jack slouched against his staff, glancing at the ground as a heavier snow began to fall. “Badly. I can’t even get into Australia anymore without being attacked with eggs. Not that I really want to, too hot for my personal preference.” 

“Well, considering all of that, why do you think they want you to join them? Change of heart? Or is it because they simply need you? They don’t want you; they only know they need your help in defeating me. And that is because the Man in the Moon told them such.”

The wind speed suddenly picked up. Jack’s head shot up at to look at Pitch, processing his suggestion. It made a lot of sense; he almost didn’t want to believe it. I’m just something they need right now? What if they won’t need me anymore? The possibility of being abandoned frightened Jack, the ground around him became layered with ice. He stepped away from the dark spirit as a sudden thought occurred to him. 

“Why are you telling me this?” Jack spat out angrily.

Pitch’s smile faded. “Why Jack, I simply want what is best for you. Besides, I believe we have much in common.”

Jack narrowed his eyes, and the temperature dropped at least twenty degrees. “I am nothing like you. Why should I help you? You want to hurt children, something I'd never willing do.” 

The Nightmare king frowned. The fearlings began to creep out of the shadows, moving towards Jack. “These children?” The man raised his arms, motioning towards the surrounding buildings. “They are simply getting their hopes up to fail. Everything they believe in dies out eventually. Why not get it over with now? In a way, I’m saving them, Jack. From themselves-”

Pitch was cut off when a blast of ice flew came flying towards his head. He barely dodged it, and it hit the ground, shattering. He looked menacingly at the young spirit.  
Jack’s eyes pulsed with a blue glow. “You’re not saving them! Their dreams are what gives them hope! Hope when things aren’t going right, why do you want to take that away from them?” 

The darkness surrounding the two immortals seemed to intensify, sending chills up Jack’s spine. Pitch simply stepped back from the boy, eyes dark and emotionless. His face was tensed up, as if he were about to reply to Jack’s question, but turned away and closed his eyes. 

The fearlings now surrounded Jack, and the winter spirit realizing the danger her was in, looked for a means of escape when Pitch finally spoke. Jack couldn’t help but turn to face him.

“My apologies for offering you a place next to me, I thought you would consider it a bit more. We could have worked very well together Jack, you and I. We could be unstoppable you know. But alas, I respect your decision in declining.” The man snapped his fingers, and a Nightmare snatched Jack’s staff out of his hands. Jack, shocked by the sudden loss of his weapon, reached out for it.

Pitch took the opportunity to give his command, “Kill him.” 

The fearlings immediately lunged towards Jack from all sides. Quickly thinking, Jack jumped for the Nightmare, ripped his staff from its jaws, and began blasting the shadows creatures surrounding him. The winter spirit was greatly outnumbered, but still fighting. Pitch looked on at the scene playing out in front of him. He thought about how to re-approach Jack, closer to the time of action, and smiled. The dark shadow conjured up a bow and arrow in his Nightmare sand, and aimed it at the boy. He released it, and laughed just loud enough to draw the boy’s attention. Jack turned his head just in time to see the arrow explode around his head, encasing him in darkness.

“See you in your Nightmares, Frost.”


	2. Distant Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's chapter two! Since this fic is older, this chapter has actually been done for a while. So is chapter three. Chapter four is near done, and then I'll start chapter five. I'm kinda liking having things done ahead of time, ha! It gives me time to edit.

_“Elizabeth! Elizabeth, where are you?!?”_

_I was running through the dark, thick, snow-covered woods, yelling out her name as I tried my best to follow the tracks quickly being covered by the fresh snow. It was only a game! She wasn’t supposed to be in danger! We had only been playing hide and seek; I know mother didn’t like us to play this far into the woods, but it had the best hiding spots. I always made sure Elizabeth didn’t go far; she wasn’t that good at hiding anyway. But tonight, she had gone farther than she normally does. And apparently, she had disturbed something living in the woods._

_“Jackson! Help me!”_

_I pushed myself to run faster; she sounded close. I pushed away low-hanging tree branches and pushed through the foliage until I came across a clearing. I stopped short when I saw the wolves surrounding a small, cowering figure who was backed up against a tree, and my heart dropped when I saw that the figure was indeed my little sister. She looked to me with pure terror in her eyes._

_“Help me!” As she cried out the wolves snarled, itching closer to her. I saw tears rolling down her face. “I’m sorry I went too far into the woods!”_

_I took the situation in slowly, trying to figure out what to do. Father had told me, in case I did ever come across a pack of wolves, the best thing to do was to remain calm and try to distract them. How I was to do this while getting Elizabeth to safety I didn’t know._

_I called out to her. “It’s alright! Just, don’t move! I’ll figure this out…” Elizabeth only response was a nod and trying her best to stop crying. I had gained one of the wolf’s attention, and I looked around for anything that could help. I cursed myself under my breath for leaving my musket at home; it would have been really useful right now._

_I saw a dozen small rocks lying on the ground on my left side, and an idea struck me. I moved over slowly, crouching down and reached out with my left arm to pick one up. The wolf that had now focused on me growled. I narrowed my eyes and quickly snatched it in my hand. I passed it to my right hand and grabbed another. The wolf began to creep towards me, and soon a few others began to lose interest in my sister. I picked up three more rocks before standing up. I had four tucked into my left arm, and waved the remaining rock in my right hand._

_“Hey! Look me!” I tossed one of the rocks at the wolf closet to my sister, hitting it in the side. It snapped its head around to look at me. The other wolves began growling as the wolf I had hit started to make its way towards me. I breathed deeply to gather up my courage before throwing another rock. It barred its teeth at me.  
“I’m sorry Mr. Wolf- oh wait, no I’m not.” I now had the entire packs’ attention, and they seemed much, much angrier than they did a mere minute ago. I tossed another rock, hitting the wolf nearest to me in the head. It stumbled away from me, before rearing on its hind legs and growling. The other wolves began to howl into the night before making moves to advance on me. _

_“Whoops, look at the time,” I nervously began to back up, putting distance between the wolves and I as well as between me and Elizabeth. “I must be going.” I began to turn, only to stop and look towards the clearing. I saw my sister standing there, still frozen in fear._

_“Elizabeth! RUN!” For a moment I feared she wouldn’t move. Then, thankfully, I saw her quickly snap out of her daze and race around the other side of the tree, sprinting into the woods as fast as her little legs would take her. A few of the wolves looked after her, and I threw the last two remaining rocks at them. They quickly refocused on me, fury burning in their eyes._

_“Come and get me you savages!” I turned on my heels and began to race through the forest, just as the leader of the pack howled again signaling the initiation of the chase._

I gasped as I woke up, head pounding and shaking as I laid there on the cold sidewalk. I sat up slowly, taking in my surroundings. 

_Why was I asleep on the sidewalk? What happened- Oh; right. Pitch. He must have knocked me out with that arrow. I don’t remember it hitting me though…_ I sat there for a few moments before something occurred to me. 

What had I been dreaming about? The dream felt livid and real. I felt like I had actually experienced it, almost as if it was a memory. I shook my head; that was impossible. I couldn’t remember anything that happened before waking up next to that lake with the Man in the Moon telling me my name. 

“It was just some stupid dream. Probably a nightmare Pitch tried to scare me with.” I looked up at sky. Dawn was just beginning as the sun began to rise up. I rolled my eyes a little. 

“Nice try, Pitch! But your nightmares will need to make more sense than that! Not to mention actually scare me!” I yelled out, knowing he wouldn’t hear me.

I stood up and brushed myself off, remembering the events that played out late last night. I walked over to a nearby building and looked myself over in the reflection on the window. Minor bruising was evident on my face around my eyes and temples. I raised one of my eyebrows and looked at it closer. I didn’t remember actually being struck. I had held off his nightmares pretty well, perhaps it was only dirt. I gathered up the end of my sleeve and rubbed it against the dark spots, only to pull back as pain surged through my head. 

Okay, maybe not. I shrugged and turned away from the reflection and looked for my staff. To my surprise, it was nowhere to be seen. I groaned and leaned against the wall behind me. 

“Great, just great.” I started to walk around the area, looking in the bushes and behind cars for any sign of my staff. I wondered if Pitch had taken it with him; it seemed like something the shadow man would do. I continued to search when I finally saw it. Relieved, I went over to it and crouched down to pick it up, only to have it send blue sparks at my open hand. I pulled back in surprise.

“What the-?” I tried again, and thankfully it didn’t shoot sparks at me. I picked it up and twirled it around a bit.

“Heh, that was odd.” I stood it on the pavement and looked it over. There weren’t any marks or scratches or cracks. I scratched my head in confusion before shrugging it off and placing the staff over my shoulder, heading into the forest just beyond the sidewalk. 

As I walked through the densely-treed woods, I noticed how quiet it was. Even for it being the early morning. Usually, the birds would be chirping their little melodies; there wasn’t a sound. There would be squirrels running along the ground and hopping from tree to tree; today I saw none. I couldn’t distinguish anything out of the ordinary in the sky or in the surrounding environment. 

_Hmm, did the whole forest fall asleep or am I missing something?_

I continued to walk down the trail I had always followed; it was worn with my foot prints. I had been taking this path ever since I had woken up next to the lake that lay in the middle of this forest and had found out who I was. After a while it had started to feel like home, or the next closest thing. 

I kind of guarded the lake in a way. Whenever people would come out to fish in it, I’d make the topic layer freeze over just enough to discourage them, same with people who tried to take a boat out onto it or swim. And during the winter, I hardly ever froze it through enough for kids to go skating on; seeing them on the ice made me uneasy. Even though I knew I could freeze it fully and make it safe. 

However I wasn’t sure why I did those things; I just didn’t like anybody else being in contact with the lake. 

Eventually I came upon it. It was a nice, cool, early-spring day; the sun was up by now but wasn’t giving off too much heat. The wind was blowing a nice, gentle breeze through the forest. The lake was glistening in the sun, and a few patches of snow remained from the last snow fall I made. I smiled a little; the area was calming after what had happened last night. 

I walked over to the water’s edge and put my feet it. To anybody else, it would feel freezing, but to me it felt wonderful. I started to walk deeper into the water when I heard the foliage rustle behind me. I snapped around and held my staff in a fighting stance.

“Who’s there?” I got no reply, and I slowly made my way out of the water, walking towards the sound. My staff began to glow blue; I was not taking any chances.  
“Come out or I’ll freeze you so solid you won’t thaw until next spring!”

It was then a gold stream of sand shot out at me and formed a big, open hand implying “STOP”. It was soon followed by the appearance of the Sandman, and I lowered my staff, releasing a breath I hadn’t realized I had held in. I smiled a little before walking towards him. 

“Sandy! Dude, you scared me.” 

Sandy then shrugged apologetically before pointing towards me. I raised my eyebrow, not understanding. The small guardian then flew up to eye level with me and pointed at the side of my head. Oh right, the bruising. I hesitated; should I tell them I was approached by Pitch? If I did, would they still trust me? Might as well; if I don’t, it might only cause bigger trouble later. I bit my upper lip before looking at Sandy. 

“Uh, you see I h-” I was cut short when a swarm of mini-fairies came rushing at me and plowed into me, knocking me to the ground as they squealed happily at me. A few tried to open my mouth. I was flustered to say the least. Sandy looked down at me and laughed silently as he floated in the air. I think I felt myself blushing when Toothiana made her way over to us.

“Oh my gosh I am so sorry. Ladies!” Instantly the mini-fairies stopped and looked at the hummingbird-hybrid as she pointed her finger behind her. The mini-fairies seemed to sigh before flying behind the tooth fairy. I took that moment to stand up and brush myself off. Toothiana then gasped and flew right in front of me just like Sandy and her mini-fairies had done. 

She held my head still-which made me wince, not that she paid that much attention-and looked at the sides before asking, “Jack, what happened? It looks like someone decided to put your head between their hands and then try to crush it!"

I pulled away and quickly made my way over to the lake to see my reflection; sure enough, the bruising had gotten even worse. It was now beginning to reach across my forehead and farther back towards my ear. I poked both of the new spots and pulled back when the pain returned. I bit my lip again before looking back at Tooth and Sandy, and I could see the concern on their faces. I slowly made my way over to them and breathed in deeply; I knew I had to tell them, but for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to form the words. I looked down at my feet, trying to stall.

Toothiana didn’t have any of it. She put her hand under my chin and gently lifted my head up, stopping when she had eye contact with me. 

“Jack, please. You’re hurt, so tell us what happened.” 

I sighed, and started to recall how everything played out. “Last night, after I flew out of the North Pole-sorry for that by the way-I came back to Burgess. I walked around on the sidewalk for a bit, you know, to think.” I scratched the back of my head and began to pace back and forth. “I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings much, and before I knew it I was surrounded by shadows,” I paused as I heard Tooth gasp, putting the dots together already. Sandy looked me over in worry; he must have figured it out too.

Toothiana then put her hand out in front of me, stopping my pacing. “Jack, did Pitch attack you?” 

I nodded before continuing. “He attacked me after he first, uh… tried to get me to join his side…” I mumbled the last part, hoping that they wouldn’t hear. 

They did. Toothiana put both hands on my shoulders and turned my body so I was directly facing her. “He what? What did you say?” 

I tried to back up a little. “I said no! I said no and then he attacked me!” Sandy was next to me now as well, floating at eye-level. I saw him form a question mark over his head in his dreamsand followed by an assortment of weapons. I understood.

“First, he just called on the nightmares to attack. Once I was almost free of them, I think he shot an arrow at me. I don’t think it hit me anywhere, I’m pretty sure it exploded next to my head. I-Its, all a little fuzzy, actually.” My head started to hurt while remembering the fight last night. I placed a hand to my forehead, trying to ignore the pain that pulsed from the bruise; the cold of my hand felt nice against the headache I was starting to get. I then noticed Sandy and Tooth share a glance before looking at me again, saying nothing.

“What?” 

Tooth looked at Sandy one more time before responding. “I think you should come with us to the Pole, Jack. Something um, something might be… wrong with you.”

I stepped back again. “Wrong? What do you mean? I’m fine.” Sandy glared slightly and pointed at my head.

“Well besides that. It’s just a little bruising, probably from collapsing on the sidewalk.” 

The concern returned to their faces; I think I had left that part out before. 

“Jack, please. Let us at least watch you for a little while? See if uh, the bruising gets any better?” The tone of Tooth’s voice suggested it wasn’t really a question. I sighed, giving in. 

“Alright. I guess it can’t do any harm.” Instantly the mini-faires bombarded me again, but this time they held back and I didn’t go toppling over. I laughed a little as Tooth and Sandy looked at me and smiled a little. Toothiana then lifted off the ground, and motioned for Sandy and I to follow. As soon as I lifted off the ground however, the headache intensified. I grimaced for a moment, before shoving the pain down and following the two guardians. It would pass, I assured myself.

_I’m fine; there isn’t anything to worry about._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you didn't catch on, Elizabeth is the name I have decided to use for Jack's sister. I've always thought it was more fitting over "Emma" or "Pippa" for colonial times.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> This was actually my first work for Rise of the Guardians, so it's a bit old (before the movie came out, actually). I'm merely moving it here because well...a bigger an audience the greater critique I will receive. This fic had started out as a oneshot, but it's quickly grown into a multi-chapter story. I've enjoyed coming up with the plotline, though it has also jump started other fics for RotG. All in good time, though.


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